A Thought on The Cowboys and the Playoffs

I watched the end of the Cowboys-Lions game on Sunday. It was ugly. The Lions would have won if Paris Lenon, former Packer and Andy man-crushee, would have fallen on a Tony Romo fumble with less than two minutes left. Instead, he wanted to be the hero, so he scooped it up and then dropped it, when a Cowboy lineman fell on it. Dallas scored the game-winning touchdown.I have an eerie feeling that play could be the difference between the NFC Championship at Lambeau Field or at that “pretty” Dallas Stadium. The Cowboys still have to play the Redskins in Washington at a time the Skins could be playing for their playoff lives. (The Cowboys also have the Eagles.) The game in Washington won’t be as tough as it might have been — with a healthy Jason Campbell and Sean Taylor in the lineup. But it won’t be a cakewalk, either.More to the point, the Cowboys simply aren’t the dominant team their 12-1 record suggests. They’re above average, at best. They should have lost to both the Lions and the Bills and got outplayed several other times this year. Yeah, yeah — good teams find a way to win. And it’s true that the Packers could have lost to the Redskins. But I like our chances if we go back to Dallas.The bigger problem could be our first-round game. Although it will almost certainly be at home, we will likely play the NFC’s 3rd place team, right now the Seattle Seahawks. The Seahawks are playing very well, running a spread offense not unlike the one the Packers are running. And they will probably have DJ Hackett back come playoff time — he’s an explosive downfield receiver and a bigger scoring threat than Deion Branch. The Seahawks’ defense has been outstanding in recent weeks, too.If we survive, though, I like our chances in Dallas.UPDATE: Chris at “The Wisconsin Sports Bar,” has more. He writes:

Believe it or not but right now the after Dallas and Green Bay I would put the Vikings as the team I would not want to play in the playoffs. Ever since the Pack took them to the wood shed the Vikings are 4-0 now three of the teams they have beat were the Raiders Lions and Niners not stellar competition but they did destroy the Giants. But the nice thing is if Minnesota is the second wild card Green Bay would not see them till the NFC Championship game and that game would be in Lambeau.